Still...13 carries, -1 yards in a 16-12 loss to the Packers in a 94 NFC wildcard playoff game. How could he not be part of the failure in a game like that?

Or they just abandoned a guy who totaled -1 yards on 13 carries. At what point do you just say, "Enough. We need to start throwing the football?"

The Lions offense had a guy named "Herman Moore." He was pretty ******* good. Really ******* good, in fact. I don't think people realize how good he was. Top 5 of the mid-90s. They also got production out of Perriman and Morton with their scheme. Kevin Glover was a beast. Lomas Brown was solid. Jeff Hartings was rock solid.

The Lions had a pretty good collection of talent on offense in the 90s. But their biggest star had flaws that were downplayed by the media and fans.

That playoff game was very notable, but Green Bay did in fact play with a defensive gimmick; Reggie White played Defensive Tackle that game, exploiting the interior of the Detroit line. And this was back when Reggie was still at the tail-end of his prime as a destructive pass rusher. Remember how much Russell Maryland was involved during that Dallas game? Reggie dialed that up to eleven.

The overall Green Bay D played in a 4-3 defense with the majority of the pass rush coming from the defensive line while the linebackers played more 'cover/contain' roles. That aspect didn't change by switching Reggie inside, and with him blowing up their guards repeatedly, that allowed the rest to focus on the passing game the Lions were forced to turn to.

And like we noted, it takes a real bullrusher of a runner, something in the Earl Campbell mold, to fight through THAT level of a disaster. I don't think even Emmitt could've done much if his guards were getting destroyed like that. He was great at piledriving past his mammoth O-Line, but that O-Line still had to hold up at the point of attack first. And say what you will about the Dallas O-Line being phone booth brawlers by and large, but they were always gameplanned to play that style and were never caught with their pants down like Detroit was in the '94 Playoffs.